Well here we are folks, the last race of the season.
For one last time those whacky sonata racers lined up for one final blast on the river for 2023.
And now here they are the most daredevil group of wacky racers ever to flog their sails
Major & minor on the Watersong chugabug
Captain Kirk on the Screwloose surplus
Clyde aka John and Skipper hill mob in the Bulletproof Skipper
Professor Pat in the Cry havoc convert a sonata
Rock (Mario) and Gravel (Riccardo) in the Thistle mobile
And Dastardly Henry in the Mean blue machine.
Sadly missed this week were
Penelope Pitstop in the Musical pussycat
The Gruesome twosome in the Munchkin coupe
and Rob Ruffcut in the Red Dwarf wagon.
Those plucky racers headed out for a gruelling zig zag route up through Gillingham reach to the twin forts Darnet and Folly.
Another Southerly (ish) breeze left racers in a double quandry, North or South, white sails or Spinny.
Fair to say mixed fortunes throughout our plucky crews with the skipper and thistle making the best of things leading the fleet out of Heartbreak reach
The chase was on and with the grey clouds gathering the charge was on to 26.
Skipper and Thistle led round the mark and swiftly hoisted spinnakers. Dead downwind with squally winds made for an interesting first downwind sprint.
On board team skipper it was squeaky bum time when they dipped themselves in the water with a spectacular broach.
Now damp to their gudgeons, they did a good job of recovery and didn’t lose out much to the downwind mark MYA1.
Thistle, skipper, Watersong and Screwloose all rounded the mark pretty close to one another followed by Blue Tack and Cry Havoc, battling the breeze only 2 up.
As the squall passed through, a few places changed hands back up to 26 before in much lighter air the racers headed back for the final time down river. Thisltle opened the door for Blue Tack by kissing the mark and having to do a dainty pirouette A much less eventful run ensued and everyone made it safely back to MYA1 for the last time this year.
Back up to 26 for the final time before heading back down to the club for the finish. Screwloose edging ever closer to Watersong down heartbreak reach couldn’t quite catch them.
Despite a valiant defence Blue Tack managed to squeeze past Thistle to 3rd with Skipper ever the threat hugging the shallows down HR following on ready to pounce on any mistakes.
A fine finale to another year of racing, final results
1. Watersong
2. Screwloose
3. Blue Tack
4. Thistle
5. Skipper
6. Cry Havoc.
A splendid finale to another great year of racing.
Time to unwind, carry out much needed maintenance before we meet again to do battle once more in 2024.
Foredug signing out till 24.